The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1887-03-26
BBECHERIANA.
Impressions and Anecdotes of the Dead
Pulpit Orator.

Impressions and Anecdotes of the Dead
Pulpit Orator.
Henry Ward Beecher did not like the
petition in the Litany in the Book of
Common PRAYER for delivery from sud
dtn death. His father, Lyman Beecher,
lived long after his mental faculties were
impaired Referring to his fathers ex-
perleuce, he once said to \ friend: 81
know there is purgatory, for | have
seen it"
paid his preaching 10y little boy, who
said: Il don't know what he means but
somehow feel. better
| When he went to Richmond in 1889 to
lecture on The North and the South
it was his first appearance there since the
war. The house was crowded but the
audience was cold and sulen. General
! titzhngh Lee, now Governor of Virginia
and other prominent citizens were pres
ent. Mr.. Beecher surveyed the audience,
and then stepping directly in front of
! General Lee, said: II have seen pictures
of General FitZhugh Lee. and | Judge
that you are the man; am | right?" The
General nodded stiliy, and Beecher con-
tInued: Then | want to Offer You this
right hand, which, i'll it's own way, fought
against you aud yours twenty-five years
ago, but which would now willingly
sacrifice TO make the sunny south pros
pelous and happy. Will you take it,
Genera ?' The future Governor could
not refuse, and tremendous round of
| applause broke the ice into very small
bits.
When his mother died he was only
three years old, and he did not go to the
funeral. They told him that they had
lid his mother i'll the ground and that
she had gone to heaven. One morning
he was found digging under the window.
His sister Catharine asked him what he
was doing and he said why, | am
going to heaven to find n "a
Ex Postmaster McLeer received this
| reply once to notification that there
was dead letter in the office for Mr.
| Beecher: I'VE must all die, And though
the premature decease of my poor letter
should excite proper sympathy (and |
hope it does,) yet am greatly sustained
under the attliction. What was the date
of it's death? Had it in its last hour pro-
per attention and such consolation as be-
| lit the melancholy occasion? Did it have
any effects? VIII you kindly see TO it's
funeral? | am strongly inclined to crema-
ton. May | ask whether any other let
tens of mine are ick-dangerously sick?
If any depart this life hereafter don't
notify me till after the funeral.A
lie was to have married a young cou-
pie at his house on Thursday evening
two weeks since, but on Wednesday night
the young man came to announce that
the lady had backed out Cheer up"
said MIR. Beecher, II will get you a bet
ter girl" and he summoned his house.
maid, Mary Maloney.
lie was present at dinner to Herbert
| Spencer some years ago and addressed a
highly intellectual, not to say skeptical,
audieuce, and brought them to their feet
IN perfect storm of applause by speech
which he concluded with the confident
| Hon. Willard Bartlett says: He then
indicated his title to be considered the
| greatest preacher of his time, not only
to the common people, but to those who,
in some sort at least, clam to be the
| wiSeSt of mankind.'
While addressing an anti slavery meet
ing he created dramatic scene by
| throwing a coil OF slave CHAINS upon the
| platform and trampling on them. In
another address in the Broadway Taber-
nac!r, he described some atrocity in the
| ,uth and SAID: is there ANYBODY
worse than that in Sing Sing?" From
the highest gallery shrill voice cried
out, Yes" Il give it up, them said
Mr.. Beecher; you've been there"
When the audience learned that it was
not prearranged the cheering was ire
meudnus.
lie even had a fixed opinion about
dogs. He once said: If the dog isn't
good for anything else it is good for you
to love, and that is a good deal. | have
two miserable little scraggy dogs up at
my Peekskill farm. They are practically
good for nothing, but sometimes think
that they are worth more to me than the
whole place"
This anacdote was introduced into his
last sermon: 1.-TWO deacons of a church
had been warm friends and yet one day
they got into dispute until they came
positively to hate each other And one
Sunday morning the dominic, going by
one of the elders, heard him muttering
to himself, He will go to hell, he will 90
to hell The old dominic steps up to
him and said: NV dear brother, he
won't 60 to hell Yes he will 90 to
hell We'll, my dear fellow, he may re
pent, you know Well, he's Just mean
enough to do it. o, that's you. That
10 oAh1C'y oho ooho'lloh III which soiie oi
you are. You mean to wait to get into
heaven. You are just mean enough to
do it,
He was much shocked by the bad por-
trait of George Eliot that appeared in
tie catalogue of western publishing
house. Nov why said Mr.. Beecher,
will men print such pictures as that
one? The l. nd knows George Eliot was
nomely enough aud the devil knows it
by this time Do YOU know what that
picture suggests to me? 1t looks to me
~ If George Eliot had been in purgatory
and there has been some terrible explo-
sion with her in the centre of it"